Thinking about the trip

Back home in Wellington and it doesn't take long to feel like everything is back to normal. Perhaps the unique climate we are blessed with here is all it takes to remind us that we're home. The weather here is "shocking" the driving wind has been combined with pouring rain during the last couple of days. I guess it's nice to be home?

I've been thinking about the Japan trip and what lasting impressions it will have on me. Making some version of a Japanese garden is an appealing prospect. Four of the five packets of seeds I purchased at the garden shop in Minoh were confiscated at New Zealand customs. So I won't be growing many of those salad greens and giant radishes. I think I can possibly purchase some replacements here in local shops. The garden I'm more keen on developing is one of those raked pebble and carefully placed rock jobs anyway. They have that easy-care appearance the appeals greatly to the lazy gardener in me.

The other things I particularly enjoyed seeing in Japan were the small streets. I liked how there were no bumps and gutters to trip up the cyclists and pedestrians. Metal gratings covered the drains which meant you could bike safely along in the path of oncoming vehicles even though the roads were really narrow. There were a wide range of styles of roading materials used. I particularly liked the large cobbles, sort of a crazy paving thing going on.

Public transport was another neat thing about Japan the Bullet train was a highlight but even the normal commuter trains were easy to use, clean and reasonably priced. The absence of graffiti and litter was neat and I never saw any intimidating or dangerous looking people. I think that was true for all the places we visited in Japan or maybe I am just a naive traveler who wouldn't recognise danger if I saw it.